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Junos OS Support for IPv4, IPv6, and MPLS Routing Protocols

Junos OS implements full IP routing functionality, providing support for IP version 4 and IP version 6 (IPv4 and IPv6, respectively). The routing protocols are fully interoperable with existing IP routing protocols, and they have been developed to provide the scale and control necessary for the Internet core.

Junos OS supports the following unicast routing protocols:

  • BGP—Border Gateway Protocol version 4 is an EGP that guarantees loop-free exchange of routing information between routing domains (also called autonomous systems). BGP, in conjunction with Junos OS routing policies, provides a system of administrative checks and balances that can be used to implement peering and transit agreements.

  • ICMP—Internet Control Message Protocol router discovery enables hosts to discover the addresses of operational routers on the subnet.

  • IS-IS—Intermediate System to Intermediate System is a link-state IGP for IP networks that uses the SPF algorithm, which also is referred to as the Dijkstra algorithm, to determine routes. The Junos OS supports a new and complete implementation of the protocol, addressing issues of scale, convergence, and resilience.

  • OSPF—Open Shortest Path First is an IGP that was developed for IP networks by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). OSPF is a link-state protocol that makes routing decisions based on the SPF algorithm.

    OSPF Version 2 supports IPv4. OSPF Version 3 supports IPv6. The fundamental mechanisms of OSPF such as flooding, designated router (DR) election, area-based topologies, and the SPF calculations remain unchanged in OSPF Version 3. Some differences exist either because of changes in protocol semantics between IPv4 and IPv6, or because of the need to handle the increased address size of IPv6.

  • RIP—Routing Information Protocol version 2 is a distance-vector IGP for IP networks based on the Bellman-Ford algorithm. RIP dynamically routes packets between a subscriber and a service provider without the subscriber having to configure BGP or to participate in the service provider’s IGP discovery process.

Junos OS also provides the following routing and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) applications protocols:

  • Unicast routing protocols:

    • BGP

    • ICMP

    • IS-IS

    • OSPF Version 2

    • RIP Version 2

  • Multicast routing protocols:

    • DVMRP—Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol is a dense-mode (flood-and-prune) multicast routing protocol.

    • IGMP—Internet Group Management Protocol versions 1 and 2 are used to manage membership in multicast groups.

    • MSDP—Multicast Source Discovery Protocol enables multiple Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) sparse mode domains to be joined. A rendezvous point (RP) in a PIM sparse mode domain has a peer relationship with an RP in another domain, enabling it to discover multicast sources from other domains.

    • PIM sparse mode and dense mode—Protocol-Independent Multicast is a multicast routing protocol. PIM sparse mode routes to multicast groups that might span wide-area and interdomain internets. PIM dense mode is a flood-and-prune protocol.

    • SAP/SDP—Session Announcement Protocol and Session Description Protocol handle conference session announcements.

  • MPLS applications protocols:

    • LDP—The Label Distribution Protocol provides a mechanism for distributing labels in non-traffic-engineered applications. LDP enables routers to establish label-switched paths (LSPs) through a network by mapping network layer routing information directly to data-link layer switched paths. LSPs created by LDP can also traverse LSPs created by the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP).

    • MPLS—Multiprotocol Label Switching, formerly known as tag switching, enables you to manually or dynamically configure LSPs through a network. It lets you direct traffic through particular paths rather than rely on the IGP least-cost algorithm to choose a path.

    • RSVP—The Resource Reservation Protocol version 1 provides a mechanism for engineering network traffic patterns that is independent of the shortest path decided upon by a routing protocol. RSVP itself is not a routing protocol; it operates with current and future unicast and multicast routing protocols. The primary purpose of RSVP is to support dynamic signaling for MPLS LSPs.

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